As early as last summer, Chen Kai recovered the Shaozhou Mansion and was recognized by Li Dingguo to have jurisdiction over the Guangzhou Prefecture. From then on, Li Dingguo naturally led the army to return to the west, while the governors of the civil official clique in western Guangdong, Guo Zhiqi, Lian Chengbi, and Zhang Xiaoqi sat in Liuzhou, Zhaoqing, and Gaozhou respectively, so as to control the situation in Guangxi, western Guangdong, eastern Guangdong, and southwestern Guangdong.

The sequence is different, but during this time, they are all busy accumulating more strength for the Yongli Imperial Court, especially when Li Dingguo completed the escort work in the original plan, the Son of Heaven should have arrived in Guangxi in order to better rely on the power of the East and West Erxun.

The war situation in Wuzhou has deteriorated to an extent beyond measure, and it is basically impossible to reverse it with the strength of the Ming army in Guangxi, because the main force of Li Dingguo in Liuzhou has been transferred to Yunnan, and only Xu Tianyou, the governor of Guangxi, is still left to garrison the important town here.

When Chen Kai set off for Fujian, the news of the settlement of the war also reached Liuzhou City. Some came from Wuzhou Mansion, and some were obtained from Guilin, as the highest-ranking official of the Yongli Imperial Court in the Liangguang region, Guo Zhiqi quickly set off on his journey.

He didn't go to Yunnan to ask Li Dingguo to return to his teacher, because he knew very well that once Li Dingguo entered Yunnan, he would inevitably be locked in Yunnan by Sun Kewang. In this regard, he gave a recital to the Yunnan side, explained the situation, and immediately set off for Nanning Province. Whether it is Hong Chengchou to completely cut off the traffic of the Ming army in the southeast and southwest, or to deter those countries such as Annam, Champong, Zhenla and other countries in the south, it is of special significance for the Qing court to replace the Ming court as the master of the tributary system in the traditional sense, and it can also reduce the possibility and strength of the support of these vassal states for the Ming court.

It has been a while since the rumors about the battle situation in Wuzhou arrived in Liuzhou, and it is still unknown whether Xunzhou Mansion and Nanxiong Mansion are still in the hands of the Ming army.

The ship passed through Xiangzhou and arrived in Wuxuan County, and the attaché and the people resisted to the death to force Guo Zhiqi to stay here for a few days, and they sent a few clever sneakers to Xunzhou Mansion to inquire about the news. As a result, without waiting for the person who inquired about the news to return, the envoys of Li Chengjue and other generals rushed here first, and the purpose changed from sending a letter to greeting.

"Supervisor, they just lost the ...... of Wuzhou Mansion"

The implication of the staff's words is very clear, it is nothing more than the bad deeds of these three generals in the battle of Wuzhou, since they can leave Lianchengbi behind, then if the Qing army attacks, they are likely to leave Guo Zhiqi behind. At this point, they couldn't afford to take any more risks.

"Of course the old man understands, but if the old man doesn't go, they won't be at ease, and if they can't be at ease, they will probably drop the tartar directly, which will be even more detrimental to state affairs."

Regardless of the opposition of the attachés, Guo Zhiqi set off overnight, and Guo Zhiqi set off overnight after receiving the news, still going down the river to the capital city of Naxunzhou. Fortunately, when they got there, none of the things that the attachés were worried about happened, but the three generals saw Guo Zhiqi but it was like a thin and withered son-in-law who had made a mistake, and he was crying bitterly on the thighs of his wife with a big waist and a round waist, and he looked at everyone sideways.

The three generals regretted not being at the beginning, and only asked Guo Zhiqi to give them a chance to make meritorious contributions. After appeasing them, Guo Zhiqi asked them some more about the recent military situation and hurriedly set off, entrusting the defense of Xunzhou Mansion to them.

This time, instead of going down smoothly, it was changed to go upstream, passing through Nanning Mansion to Lianzhou Mansion. As for the Nanning Mansion, which was originally planned to rush to, this time it was no longer leaving.

Lianzhou Mansion is still not the final destination, Guo Zhiqi arrived at Lianzhou Mansion and took a boat, and directly arrived at Gaozhou Mansion City, where Zhang Xiaoqi, the governor of Gao Lian Lei Qiong's four prefectures, was stationed. When they got there, the two didn't need to say much, just a look at Zhang Xiaoqi knew that Guo Zhiqi had extremely important affairs.

"Supervisor, company ......"

"General, if he died in vain, he is seeking benevolence and benevolence, and my generation must inherit his legacy and strive to ensure that the Ming Dynasty is prosperous."

Guo Zhiqi is from Jieyang, Chaozhou, Guangdong, Lian Chengbi is from Jinxi County, Fuzhou Prefecture, Jiangxi, and Zhang Xiaoqi is from Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, Nanzhili. The three of them are not fellow villagers, and they are even thousands of miles apart, but on these two broad grounds, they are in the same spirit. This time, Zhang Xiaoqi was also full of grief and indignation after receiving the news, which was nothing more than a forced handling of official business. Seeing Guo Zhiqi here, the long-suppressed emotions suddenly exploded, but Guo Zhiqi thought a lot along the way, and quickly appeased Zhang Xiaoqi, and then brought up another matter.

"When the old man was in Liuzhou, he heard that Chen Kai and Hong Chengchou were in collusion and betrayed Guangxi in exchange for southern Jiangxi and western Guangdong."

"This ......"

Such a shocking secret really stunned Zhang Xiaoqi for a moment, but before Zhang Xiaoqi could express his opinion, Guo Zhiqi took the lead in franking his opinion: "The old man thinks that this must be Hong Chengchou's discordant words, intended to cause discord between you and me and Chen Kai, the court and the Duke of Zhangguo. ”

"The superintendent is clear, and the lower officials also see the same."

Before he had time to think about the details, seeing Guo Zhiqi's assertion, Zhang Xiaoqi immediately echoed it. Immediately after analyzing the pros and cons of the details from Chen Kai's point of view, Zhang Xiaoqi felt that Guo Zhiqi's views were insightful. Don't say any sources, as well as other issues, just say that Chen Kai's advantage in this transaction is too big, Hong Chengchou's guy is never a master who is willing to suffer, where would he let Chen Kai go so much.

"Chen Kai is not Hong Chengchou's father, he is not so filial."

The words suddenly appeared in Zhang Xiaoqi's mind, although it was a little rough, but the truth was fine. Since this is the case, there is no collusion between Chen Kai and Hong Chengchou, so the only thing left is the problem between them and Chen Kai.

"Inspector, the king of Xining entered Yunnan for Chen Kai's suggestion, this time Chen Kai took over the northern counties of Zhaoqing Prefecture, will it also be a move for him to take Guangdong?"

"The general knows my heart, and the old man hurried over for this matter."

The fall of Wuzhou Mansion and the death of Lianchengbi, those rumors are just nonsense as long as anyone with a brain can figure it out. Guo Zhiqi and Zhang Xiaoqi are both Jinshi and first, and they can be admitted to Jinshi, at least their IQ is beyond ordinary people, and doing stupid things like other Jinshi is basically not a professional mismatch, or a butt problem.

Since Li Dingguo entered Yunnan, the Ming army actually earned the entry and exit of Southern Jiangxi and Wuzhou, because in the strategic pattern, Hong Chengchou ensured the long side of thousands of miles, so as to limit the Ming army was the highest priority, and the second was to cut off the traffic of the Ming army in the southeast and southwest. Now the secondary has been achieved, but the primary purpose is in vain, it is nothing more than to make up for it from other places at a loss, so as to give an explanation to the Qing court.

However, Hong Chengchou's remedies for his death, Chen Kai inevitably stopped further offensives. Next, Chen Kai returned to recover the northern counties of Zhaoqing Province, ensuring that these areas were not occupied by the Qing army. But the problem is that in the process of controlling Zhaoqing Fucheng, Deqingzhou, Guangning, Sihui, Kaijian, Fengkai and other places, Chen Kai also took the Xing and Gaoming counties, which did not fall in the raids and rumor offensives of Daniel Zhang and Hu Maozhen, and were in the hinterland.

"General, what is the situation in these prefectures?"

The northern part of Zhaoqing Mansion is now a foregone conclusion, and whether Guo Zhiqi can pry it is still two words. When asked about the situation of Zhang Xiaoqi's Gaozhou Mansion and Leizhou Prefecture, Lianzhou Mansion, it is also because in addition to the northern part of Zhaoqing Prefecture, this area can be regarded as the strongest place in the western Guangdong civil official group, and Zhang Xiaoqi has been operating here for many years.

However, when Guo Zhiqi asked this time, Zhang Xiaoqi shook his head with a wry smile, saying that it was basically the same. What exactly this old look is, Guo Zhiqi also knows some general situations.

In the fourth year of Yongli, Shang Geng's two feudal domains captured Guangzhou, except for Chen Kai, who was entrenched in Chaozhou, and the other Ming troops were basically either driven into the mountains or bombarded into the sea. Under such circumstances, due to factors such as distance and geographical situation, the four prefectures of Gaolian Leiqiong in the southwest of Guangxi became the location of a large number of Ming troops.

When Chen Kai cooperated with Li Dingguo to recover Guangdong, or even just Li Dingguo invaded Guangdong from Guangxi, the Ming army here could finally defend the clouds and see the moon. They occupied prefectures and counties, requisitioned tuntian to raise troops, and were like independent kingdoms. Zhang Xiaoqi has done a lot of hard work here from raising military food and salaries for Li Dingguo's army to trying to restore local administration, but the cards in his hand are not good, and those feudal towns have always eroded local rights and interests under the banner of raising troops to resist the Qing Dynasty.

In fact, they once had some things that they could get their hands on, such as the distribution of spoils in Guangzhou, the distribution of meritorious rewards, and the military power of Zhaoqing Mansion, all of which could be taken out in exchange.

It's a pity that at that time, in order to score points in front of Li Dingguo, they used a lot of money, grain and grass to support Li Dingguo's westward expansion, but Guangzhou City was still controlled by Chen Kai, which was a bad move. And then Lianchengbi's hard work in the north of Zhaoqing Mansion is actually a good choice, but in the end, who knew that he jumped out of such a way to bite the gold, and the result was a bamboo basket for nothing.

"It's not for nothing that the harvest is not impossible, Xia Guan has already controlled the Tanmin organization that collected Hepu Zhu during this time."

Hepu Zhu is the South Pearl, this East and West dynasties are extremely valuable tribute, Qu Dajun's Cantonese said that "the West Pearl is not as good as the East Pearl, the East Pearl is not as good as the South Pearl". Zhang Xiaoqi used the banner of tribute to prevent the covetousness of other feudal towns, and tribute was definitely wanted, but he planned to pay for the others by sea, and then use the money he earned to buy the generals and restore their authority, which was also a good prescription.

"Hepuzhu, yes."

After some discussion, Guo Zhiqi set off again. And this time his target will inevitably be Guangzhou, and he needs to discuss an explanation with Chen Kai before he can make corresponding countermeasures.

It's a rush all the way again, do the math, from Liuzhou to Guangzhou, through a thousand miles away, basically no rest on the way, it is not an easy thing for anyone. When Guo Zhiqi arrived in the capital of Guangzhou, he could finally take a rest, because Chen Kai had not yet returned from Fuzhou, and even if he wanted to talk now, he would regret that he should not have learned what Bagu Wen had in the first place, and it would not be beautiful to learn a thousand miles of sound directly.

In the following days, while waiting, Guo Zhiqi was also observing the changes in the capital city of Guangzhou, and peeking at the leopard, so as to understand Chen Kai's policies and strategies after he went to Guangxi.

The military is basically on the surface, Chen Kai has achieved the goal of recovering Southern Jiangxi, and strongly inserted into Jiangxi, which is bound to pose a huge threat to the rule of the Qing court south of the Yangtze River. In contrast, he paid more attention to the measures of civil affairs, until Chen Kai returned a few days later, and the most he heard in his ears was the Guangdong Business Alliance mentioned in Lian Chengbi's letter before, but he didn't understand why such a business organization would appear so high in Guangzhou.

The news of Chen Kai's return first came back from Hong Kong, where Chen Kai would transfer to the official ship of the governor's yamen and enter the Pearl River. After getting the news, Guo Zhiqi restrained his observation of Guangzhou City, and waited for Chen Kai to come back wholeheartedly, but when Chen Kai really came back, the two met for less than a quarter of an hour.

"Hepuzhu is not enough, so what more do you want? The governor of Liangguang, or the strategy and the superintendent, as long as you can say it, if it can't be done, the old man should do his best. ”

If it weren't for the dilapidated place there that it was unable to support more troops, if it weren't for Hong Chengchou's remediation, and if it weren't for the fact that Lianchengbi was given a period of time, it might not be able to become the real actual control area of the Yongli Imperial Court.

Now, Lian Chengbi is dead, and Guo Zhiqi is ready to take up this burden himself. But the problem is that these places are now in Chen Kai's hands, Guo Zhiqi feels that he does not have enough reason to persuade Chen Kai to give up this half of the mansion, and he knows even more that even if Chen Kai really gives up, he will not be able to hold this place in front of the Dingnan Domain. Therefore, he planned to exchange the sea trade monopoly of Hepuzhu and let Chen Kai help him take charge of the defense here before he could assemble enough to fight against the Dingnan Domain, just like Li Dingguo had done before.

Of course, just Hepuzhu may not be enough, Guo Zhiqi is ready to slowly grind out the business with Chen Kai with the idea of asking for money on the spot. As a result, who knew that Chen Kai was not interested in this at all.

"Inspector Guo, even the army was martyred, and the lower officials admired his integrity very much, and he has always taken this as an example. However, to put it irreverently, even the army has been integrated in the northern part of Zhaoqing Prefecture for more than a year and has not held these prefectures and counties, do you think you can do it yourself? ”

When he came back from Fujian, he had thought a lot along the way, and his mood had already recovered. However, as soon as he returned to the city, Guo Zhiqi came to such a hand, which made the irritability in his chest inevitably squirt out.

As calm as possible, Chen Kai told Guo Zhiqi about the troop allocation of the Dingnan Domain in Wuzhou Mansion, and even turned out a bunch of reports on the situation in Wuzhou from the official room in front of Guo Zhiqi, and analyzed them to Guo Zhiqi one by one. But as a result, Guo Zhiqi didn't seem to understand at all, and only talked about business and nothing else.

The dignified supervisor and scholar insisted on learning how to be a businessman, which really made Chen Kai laugh angrily. Of course, he understands the importance of these counties in the north of Zhaoqing Prefecture to the civil official group in western Guangdong and even to the Yongli Imperial Court, but for him, after returning from Fujian, this is no longer just a matter of military defense, and the Zheng group does not have the habit of spitting out what he eats in his mouth, and he is now in an embarrassing period within the group, so it is even more difficult to do anything "harmful to the public and private interests".

"Chen Fujun, you must be clear, you are the governor of the Ming Dynasty, not his servant of the Zheng family!"

said that he had a dry mouth, but he still couldn't make Chen Kaisong say half a word. Anger rises from the heart to the side of the gall, Guo Zhiqi said this, and immediately secretly said that it was not good. But the words had already been spoken, and he had to hold on.

Returning to the original point when he met Lian Chengbi in Wencun, Chen Kai couldn't help but smile bitterly. However, Chen Kai also did not show weakness in this statement, saying that he was very clear about his personal positioning, and he also knew very well what he wanted to do and what he should do.

With a "send-off", Guo Zhiqi left in a bad mood, Chen Kai sat on the Taishi chair in the official room, breathing heavily, and tried his best to release the pressure he was facing at the same time, the Zheng Group, the Western Guangdong Civil Official Group and the Qing Court, but it was still in vain. It wasn't until a long time later that Chen Kai took a deep breath, pressed his palm heavily on the table, and stared ahead, as if it were substance.

"Okay, okay, okay, since you don't want me to be happy, then don't blame me for lifting the table."